City of Winnipeg fails to accommodate injured lifeguard

For a lifeguard with the City of Winnipeg, a little policy education can mean the difference between work and no work.

Kyle Derbitsky — a post-secondary student and instructor with the city’s aquatics department — learned this lesson following a ski-related knee injury that rendered him unable to work.

The dispute arose when Derbitsky, whose sick leave benefits were running thin, sought accommodation to work in a sedentary job pending his recovery. There was a job available, however, he was required to take a two-day training course, for which Derbitsky said he could not get time off from an important class at the University of Winnipeg.